Analysis of “Yet Do I Marvel” A poem by Countee Cullen
The poem “Yet Do I Marvel” consists of fourteen lines,
each relating to each other to
express a common sentiment. With the opening statement,
“I
doubt not God is good…” he first
lets us know that he has faith in God and His good
intentions. In that first line, he also hints at
the doubts that he expresses throughout the body of the
poem. Cullen goes on to cite those
things he considers paradoxes of life. In lines five,
six,
seven, and eight, he refers to Greek
mythology, citing two people condemned by the gods.
“Make
plain the reason tortured
Tantalus”… “Is baited by the fickle fruit…” It is
assumed
that the reader realizes that these two
were punished with an eternity of obstacles they could
never
overcome, or tasks they could never
complete. Tantulus by food and drink he could never
reach,
and Sisyphus by a job never
finished. He utilizes words and phrases that bring the
reader to believe theses things to be
hopeless and dark, such as: doom, struggle, never-
ending,
and tortured.
Both at the beginning
and towards the end of this poem, Cullen makes it clear
that
he expects no answer to these
questions. “…immune to catechism too strewn with petty
cares…” Even so, with his last two
lines, “Yet do I marvel at this curious thing….To make a
poet black and bid him sing!” he
cannot cease to wonder. In a time when blacks were
given
little value, to create a black poet and
“bid him sing” was in itself a paradox as blacks had no
voice. These things should not co-exist.
As was the theme throughout the poem, he shows that
theses
ironies are given to exist anyway,
however unlikely.
The result, is an eloquent and masterful poem full of
inspiration and hope for what blacks could, and would
accomplish in the future.